Invitation to The Liberty Gala

[Theberstan]

I cannot wait.

[Tinhampton]

I cannot wait.

You're right on that count, it's already started

[HumanSanity]

The 'Defender Update Training Open House' link on the events dispatch just goes to NS itself, not any dispatch (which I presume it's supposed to).

I fixed it Although not too much info to be shared there. Someone is going to screen-share what they're doing at update for the new folks who barely know what update is.

[Theberstan]

I cannot wait.

You're right on that count, it's already started

Oh how’d I join? I got an invite!

[Blackbird]

Invaders should be treated as the pariahs they are. Invaders seek only to destroy that which productive nations have built into regions. Why should we invite barbarians hordes to our table when their normal source is to flip over the table uninvited?

For years and years, invaders have attempted to make themselves "respectable." Even at the beginning, many of the first invaders I fought, like those in the Atlantic Alliance, hid behind a false veneer of civility, claiming that they were building an empire when all they were doing was invading regions. But make no mistake, all invaders seek to do is destroy the most productive parts of society: the regional alliance. Perhaps some of their most vicious weapons, like griefing are no longer permitted, but do not think that simply because their most vile and evil weapons are no longer available to them that their underlying ideology has changed.

Don't invite them to your regions. Don't invite them to your dinner parties. Do not accept Ambassadors from their murderous alliances. They are to be fought, like a plague.

Maybe try NOT trolling an entire section of the entirely legal gameplay community?

[OOC]I don't understand this. Invading and defending are in-character actions. I am not really the twenty-third President of the United Socialist States of Blackbird of the Proletariat Coalition. Invading and defending are constructs that are created by players to describe how certain gameplay mechanics work.[/OOC]

[Gorundu]

Edit: Before anyone tries to be like why you talking about fear mongering when TBH's slogan is "the most feared organization in NS," this was created in 2005 as a means to build legitimacy for the organization. It is a bit edgy by today's standards but I see it more as recognizing TBH's skill and ability rather than fear of the actual people within the group.

Well, the puppy dispatches strike anything but fear. The slogan really is a bit outdated

[Twicetagram and JYPe]

Is this still open?

[Daytime to Night]

Is this still open?

Very much so, we have events running until the 31st October and then will enter into the Defender Awards

Full schedule is here: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1445610

Today we begin our Conga line to different communities within our community, visiting the Spiritus discord and paying our respects to the great Potato.

It also marks the start of our Security Council events with Resolution nominations opening and a Highlighting the Importance of the Security Council AMA with Kuriko at 6 PM EDT (10 PM UTC).

We will continue our games nights as scheduled and the first Defender Games event will take place at major for those that have signed up.

The latest update in the Nation Creation Contest has also be released by Paffnia:

Today, World-Census-takers picked out the least corrupt nations, and the bottom four nations are slated for elimination. In Matthew's puppet, though, elections are won by the candidate whose ballot box overflows most with stuffed ballots. In Oneid's puppet, people won't hold the door for anyone else without a bribe, and in Kionian's puppet, contracts have a line-item for kickbacks. Finally, in United States of Island Land's puppet, there's an official Secretary of Grift. They can't bribe their way out of a trip to The Rejected Realms, though!

Thirty-three of the initial forty nations live to fight another day!

[The Liberty Gala]

This evening we had a AMA with Kuriko about the Security Council. The transcript can be found here

[Jakker]

This evening we had a AMA with Kuriko about the Security Council. The transcript can be found here

I appreciate Kuriko noting Condemn Macedon was not a good idea. I was always bummed about that getting repealed. I also appreciate the belief that raiding should be recognized by the SC via condemnations. I'm a little unsure what is meant by a "return to a condemnation actually meaning what it's supposed to mean." Could that be expanded upon?

[HumanSanity]

Good morning all!

We've got a couple of fun things to do today:

First off, we'll be visiting The Union of Democratic States's Discord Server today! While there, UDS is hosting a 6 PM EDT game of Among Us which they're graciously inviting their guests to attend

Then, we have two stops in our R/D games today

At minor update, Phoenix of the Sun/FiHami will be doing her update open house on our server. For new or experienced updaters, this is a great opportunity to watch someone stream update live and see how the best do things

At major update, our team R/D games will continue with a set of chasing and detagging games (all jumps will result in detags, but we'll simulate the chasing for practice and higher rigor).

And then, on the main server, we also have a few games of Werewolves at 1:30 PM EDT

The Nation Creation Contest continued today, with Swifty/Imperial Dodo, Numero Capitan, Narvatus, and Sweet Haven all falling short in the category of Corruption. The full update can be found here courtesy of Paffnia

[HumanSanity]

Another update from The Liberty Gala:

Today, The Liberty Gala Conga line is visiting 10000 Islands's Discord server

We also opened sign ups for the Defender Family Tree on the Discord server. The finalized tree will be released after it has been compiled. Sign ups are open until October 30th. If any anyone doesn't want to join the server but still wants to be a part of this recording of history, feel free to telegram me and I'll make sure you're included Details can be found in this Dispatch

We'll also have a detag and chase competition at major today as well as beginning the pile off in the event region after major update today

[Unibot III]

Another update from The Liberty Gala:

Today, The Liberty Gala Conga line is visiting 10000 Islands's Discord server

We also opened sign ups for the Defender Family Tree on the Discord server. The finalized tree will be released after it has been compiled. Sign ups are open until October 30th. If any anyone doesn't want to join the server but still wants to be a part of this recording of history, feel free to telegram me and I'll make sure you're included Details can be found in this Dispatch

We'll also have a detag and chase competition at major today as well as beginning the pile off in the event region after major update today

The Defender Tree organized by Kogvuron, in conjunction with UDL, FRA, & TITO, has already done an incredible amount of research if you wanted to incorporate Kog’s work into your tree.

[Pleau]

Can I participate in this gala?

[HumanSanity]

Can I participate in this gala?

Definitely, feel free to join the Discord server using the link in the OP

[HumanSanity]

A few updates:

Numero Capitan has authored an essay on the early history of the South Pacific which has been published here

At 8 PM EDT, we'll be hosting a pull event for Season 1 Anime Daisuki - anyone is welcome to join in

At minor update, Phoenix led a set of triggered jumps by individuals for the Defender Games. Points were awarded to teams based on who made the jumps the fastest. (These points are not on the official points scoreboard, rather some alternate Phoenix scoreboard.) Team names and flags can be found here

BISONS: +35
ARMOR BATTALION: +145
ATAN: +55
4: +10 pity points
OBAMA: +90
GODGAMER: +50

The for funsies folks:
GK: 5 + 20 + 5 + 10 + 10 + 5 + 15
HS: 5 + 10 (I promise I only did the first four :> )
Matthew: 5 + 5 + 10 + 10 + 10

Day 6 of the Nation Creation Contest continued, with Paff's update:

Today's World Census Report ranks nations by largest defense forces, and the bottom four nations are slated for elimination. In Cirrus Azale's puppet, the army, such as it is, is equipped with water guns and dart guns only. In Woonsocket's puppet, the situation room in the capitol has a big button programmed to lower the national flag and raise the white flag of surrender simultaneously on flagpoles across the country. In Pianaville's puppet, the defense department only hires chefs, to prepare banquets to welcome invading armies. And in Flying Eagles' puppet, the official camouflage colors are bright pink and yellow. With no troops to stand in the way, they're now exiled to TRR!

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

I gotta admit, i'm not always in attendance at these events, but so far this has been a bunch of fun. Thanks to HS and everyone else who made this possible. <3

[Numero Capitan]

We are doing a general Defender History AMA for the Liberty Gala and anyone is welcome to submit questions on this forum topic!

It will be an open conversation on the Gala Discord with a panel comprised of Ananke, Benevolent Thomas, Blackbird, Dilber and myself leading the discussion (if that helps inspire some questions).

Submit questions below and we'll discuss as many as we can!

[HumanSanity]

A few announcements:

Congratulations to Chimes/Jamie and ROM for winning the card collecting contests, with an honorable mention for Numero Capitan as well.
Influential Defenders Collections ---
NuCa's collection: https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/ ... ro_capitan
Rom's collection: https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/ ... nation=rom

Defender Switchers collections ---
Jamie's "The Nakari Portrait" Collection: https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/ ... ion=chimes

On 10/26, we conducted a pull event for Season 1 Anime Daisuki. The pull event netted 21 pulls, narrowly beating the TNL pull event for the same card during N-Day but 1 pull, and (as far as I am aware) setting the record for pulls on a single card in the post-TCALS nerf era for pull events. Congratulations to everyone who pulled a card and thanks to Grea Kriopia for bidding so I could open packs

The Nation Creation Contest has continued with result being posted to the TIC Nation Creation Contest RMB. Only 3 nations remain!

The Defender History AMA/Q&A is being prepared into a transcript for public release. Family tree sign ups close today as well.

And lastly, here's the transcript from the Why We Defend panel. Thanks to Grea Kriopia for compiling. https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1454393

[Lord Dominator]

I'd like to thank yon defender panel for some propaganda and theming ideas

[A Bloodred Moon]

I got a good chuckle out of SP and SFE being labeled liberations, as well as Numero talking about the effectiveness of liberation efforts on North Ustaynga. I very much admire the attempts at propaganda, revisionist and easily disproven as it is. Not that I blame you - if I had the record with those two regions defenders do, I’d do my very best to spin it as a victory too.

On an OOC level: For those of us who don’t speak defender but are interested in the talks, would someone mind explaining “the golden rule”? I’m also somewhat disappointed to see that Prarie is now seemingly making an argument that raiding should be seen as bad on an OOC level. Fortunately, the rest did not seem to share that mentality, but I think that would be a step back from the progress made with purely in-character oriented moralism, and it undermines the OOC/IC divide that is so fragile to begin with. On the whole, I found it an interesting read, and I do agree that in-character moralism makes the game more fun.

[Goobergunchia]

Numero Capitan has authored an essay on the early history of the South Pacific which has been published here

It's still super weird to see anybody from the GLA discussing its activities openly.

[Sedgistan]

There seems to be a bit more openness about the GLA since its forum was lost to the Tapatalk takeover.

[North Prarie]

Prarie is now seemingly making an argument that raiding should be seen as bad on an OOC level.

That's not true, Jo - there was a discussion going on about moralism and raiding OOC-wise, and I shared my view. You can pretty plainly see that afterwards I go on to say that that's not the line we should be pursuing, as OOC-IC line-blurring makes the game better for nobody. I've had a pretty, let's say, fruitful conversation with fellow GPers on it that has altered my view.

[Daytime to Night]

I’d do my very best to spin it as a victory too.

Nothing to do with that, the North Ustaynga natives were ready to give up on NS entirely there and then. Our efforts gave them some hope but the region has never been the same since the raid and it pretty much flattened their interest in the game. Its to Nakari's credit and the efforts of those who attempted liberations that they had a chance to regroup and rebuild post-raid. They didn't have the enthusiasm to rebuild unfortunately and that community is more or less lost from the game. That not a victory at all, its deeply depressing.

The same occurred in the Iran invasion, with the long term delegate fully ready to give up on the game and let the region die. Thankfully defender efforts were more successful to support them, restore their delegacy and work with them on a refound. Iran now has the potential to become a genuine, secure community again and is making efforts to do so. Roavin and Kuriko deserve their fair share of credit for that and without their work with Iramerica that region might have become a dead shell too.

The context of the discussion was the discourse around morality and the importance of defending natives for natives sake. Those examples very much show the need for defending and the evils of invading. It's not about propaganda points and spin, its about helping people outside of r/d enjoy the game still without their experience being destroyed by r/d.